Cursed
by Nemi-Dina
Summary: Neither one of them believed in the supernatural world… That is until Holly Holiday, their civilization teacher, took them on an expedition to a notorious nearby forest... which then became the crime scene in the case of local teenager Rachel Berry's sudden and mysterious death...
1. Chapter 1

_Of course, I don't own glee or the characters, blablabla... This is just an idea that popped into my head quite a while ago._

_You'll see a lot of Sam/Santana romance and some kind of Finn/Santana/Sam love triangle ;) And of course, reviews are more than welcome, so yeah, I hope you enjoy this._

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Santana Lopez, was taking in the eerie landscape, pondering whether she should start taking pictures randomly as they advanced through the thick forest or whether she should just wait for the group to reach the very doomed site, the epicenter of the little earthquakes which had barely shaken Lima the past few years.

Lima had never gone through any serious seismic activity. Nothing to be scared of… Yet Santana couldn't help but shiver and cringe at the thought of being there. The epicenter which they were looking for was not popular due to its harmless seismic waves; it was popular because it was the place where several females had been burnt starting from the 1690's. It was a place that the majority of Lima's population considered evil. No one went there except for eccentric historians and careless junkies.

On that Monday afternoon, Santana and her schoolmates were following historians' footsteps according to Holly Holiday, their history teacher. They were exploring the past through the land of their forefathers in search of historical clues.

Historical clues, my ass! Finn Hudson thought and rolled his eyes as he walked behind Santana Lopez with his three months girlfriend, Rachel Berry by his side. The entire group of students had violently objected to her coming with them; partly because she wasn't part of the project and mostly because all of them hated the fact that her ego could fit a whole football field. But as always, Rachel Berry found a way to intruse anyhow.

"This is it!" Holly cried out and raised her arms dramatically when they reached an empty area which formed an uncultivable circle of dirt and rocks on which nothing had grown except for some thorns that lingered here and there, slithering through stones.

"All right! I'll let you a few minutes to analyze the scenery and then we'll discuss the matter together." Holly explained joyfully and sat on a rock.

Santana started taking pictures of the surrounding wilderness and then decided to take a big shot of the strange ghastly circle which she realized, was more of an oval that seemed to stretch over about ten yards.

The rest of the teenagers looked around them for a few seconds and eventually felt bored, so a few of them started texting while others played games on their cellphones. Finn and Rachel, who were the only couple in there, thought they had nothing better to do than to cuddle and kiss. Santana scowled and looked away, meeting Mercedes Jones and Sam Evan's stare as she did so. The two used to date each other but something happened in the course of the summer and now rumor had it that they were just buddies.

Sam stared hard at Santana for a few more seconds before whispering something in Mercedes' ear.

Santana frowned and shook her head. Normally, she would walk up to them and ask them what their problem was, but this year, she had decided she would change and get to be the mature person… so she just ignored their stares and whispering and focused on her teacher.

Holly was brought out of her trance and contemplation of the scenery when she heard phones buzzing and ringing. Noah Puckerman and Quinn Fabray were texting and Tina Chang was speaking on the phone. Holly rolled her eyes and immediately took a look at her watch.

"Well! What do you have to say? What do you think of the historicity of this place?" She asked in a passionate way as her eyes widened and her hands made bizarre movements in an attempt to make the bored students understand her better.

The group of teenagers remained silent. None of them ever wanted to work on that assignment and none of them seemed to understand how this expedition could be relevant to their project. Why did Holly always have to make a spectacle of herself? Santana, wondered.

She remembered, one time, Holly even wore an Elizabethan dress just to get them interested in the life of Queen Elizabeth. Another time, she had different kids play some sort of drama in front of everyone only to have them throw paper balls at her. Holly Holliday was a cool teacher, Santana was sure of that, but the truth was also that, Holly Holliday was kind of a desperate teacher… even more desperate than Mr. Shuester.

"Well…" Santana ventured after she realized that even perfect little Rachel Berry wouldn't answer Holly's question.

The tall and slender teacher nodded frantically, enjoying the fact that at least one of the teenagers was trying to participate.

"It's quite the ghostly and death-like sort of place, obviously… Partly because we tend to associate this sort of scenery with gothic gloomy stories and mostly because… This place is a – a reminder – a mark of the past, this place is full – full of dark memories and cruel unforgettable events." Santana said slyly and very quickly as her eyes wondered here and there, scanning the landscape.

She had to admit though, that the creepy scenery was beautiful and that the depiction of the place in a painting or a picture would be stunning.

"That's excellent Miss Lopez!" Holly exclaimed and clapped her hands, clearly excited.

The group all looked at Santana and a few of them rolled their eyes. Santan didn't have the best reputation and had never been considered intelligent. People acknowledged the fact that she was smart but they knew she was no nerd.

Santana had decided she'd get a grip and change things around for senior year, for once in her life, she wouldn't mess up… And her dad would be proud of her again. While all the others could see were uninteresting dirt, stones and surrounding trees, Santana could see an eerie and yet somehow enchanting environment.

Holly rose to her feet and was about to speak when all of a sudden, terrifying noises echoed through the forest followed by a violent earthquake which sent all of them falling down to the dirty ground. Fortunately, they were in the only area of the forest that was clear of trees so nothing fell over them. The earth kept shaking for a few more minutes and then it all stopped as if nothing ever even happened.

The first one rising to his feet was Finn, who then helped his girlfriend up by grabbing her waist, steadying her as she was still a bit dizzy due to the violence of the previous tremors.

"Are you guys all right?" He asked and looked around to make sure no one was hurt.

Some of the teenagers groaned and stood up while others cried out an "all good".

"Stupid earthquakes, they've never been so violent before!" Holly exclaimed as she tried to steady her weakened body by leaning against a big grey rock.

"Hey, can you guys see that?" Rachel Berry asked as she started walking dizzily towards the very center of the oval.

The whole group, including the teacher, followed her and gazed at the strange halo of light which floated two feet above the ground.

"What the fuck is that?" Exclaimed Noah Puckerman also known as the dirty mouth.

"It looks like some kind of light – or maybe – some – some kind of energy." Mercedes Jones stuttered and took a few steps back.

The halo of light suddenly grew twice bigger and everyone backed away in fear except for Rachel who seemed to be mesmerized by it.

"Rachel, back off." Finn warned and grabbed his girlfriend's arm as he attempted to push her away from the peculiar and unnatural light.

"Calm down, Finn! It's just some light." She cried out of exasperation and rolled her eyes as she got rid of her boyfriend's grasp.

"Interesting, I've never seen such a thing before." Mrs. Holiday stated and narrowed her eyes as she watched the floating item.

Mercedes and Tina tried to take a picture of the strange light but their phones rendred a poor version of the thing.

"Santana, come here, take a picture!"Mrs. Holiday ordered and turned around to look for Santana who was head of the photography club.

"Santana?" Holly called again.

Santana had remained seated on the ground a few yards away where they had all fallen before. She held a broken camera in her hands. Disappointment ran through each and every one of them as they realized they had no means of capturing that strange appearance.

Santana hadn't gotten used to being the head of photography club just yet, and neither had the rest of her school's student body. Somehow they all expected her to come down Mc Kingley High's hall in her cheerleader uniform again someday…

"What do you think will happen if I try to touch it?" Rachel asked no one in particular and Santana looked up just in time to see her take a few steps forward.

Rachel leaned over the strange light and brought her fingers to it.

"Rachel, don't!" Holly warned.

"No!" Finn cried out and started walking towards his girlfriend.

But none of them could prevent her from doing what she was determined to do. Rachel touched the peculiar ball of light and immediately screamed in pain.

"Rachel!" Finn shouted in a broken voice as flames engulfed the girl's petite body.

All teenagers started running towards the shrieking girl as some of them took off their jackets hurriedly, hoping maybe they could all together use them to stop the flames and save her but as soon as Finn approached her, as he was only two feet away from her, the strange ball of light exploded, sending a peculiarly strong and blinding wave of white energy that rose them three feet above the ground before it sent them crushing down as if they were plastic dolls.

Santana had been the only one who had managed to protect herself from the explosion as she was the one standing farthest away from the center. She had had enough time to lie down on her stomach, saving herself.

She stood up dizzily and realized with horror and fear that she was the only one left conscious. Her whole body started shaking and she had to blink back some tears as she tip-toed clumsily around the peaceful bodies lying on the ground. Catching a glimpse of Rachel's now burned body which consisted of heaps of bones and ashes, Santana failed to hold in her tears any longer.

She turned her head away from the sad view, and spotted Sam Evans lying in the dirt about one yard away from her, with blood dripping down from his forehead. Coming out of her shocked state, she shook her head and bent down towards him. Before her brain could even process what was going on, her frail fingers stroked the boy's hair. Pulling back his bangs away from his eyes, Santana gasped when the feel of warm blood on her fingertips sent shivers down her spine. Of all the injured teenagers, Sam seemed to be the most peaceful... the one that might not survive.

Realizing that touching Sam's bloody head made everything much more real, Santana burst into tears, unable to control any of her feelings.

With her bruised and shaky hands, she managed to pull her cell phone out of her jeans' back pocket and dial 911.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, Santana was lying on one of the couches displayed in the quaint waiting room of Lima's Medical Center, waiting for the doctors and hoping, maybe, her busy father would eventually find time to ring her. Normally he almost never bothered to call when he went on a business trip, she just had to wait for him to come back home at the end of the week. But this time, something serious had happened and he should have called already, he should have been worried… She bit her short fingernails and closed her eyes as she tried to shake off the depressing questions; but she failed miserably and couldn't help but wonder if her father even cared anymore… and if his carrier mattered more than she did…

The young teenager tried to focus on anything but her thoughts and sighed as she looked at Finn's mother who sat beside her on a tiny sofa. She examined her features, her red and puffy eyes, her shaky hands, her messy brown locks falling down her shoulders, the way her lip quivered every time a member of the staff entered the waiting room. Santana took a deep breath and approached the thirtyish woman.

"You know, I think I can just stay in my house for the rest of the week. I'm used to it, my dad travels a lot. And… with what's happened, you guys need some time to rest, some family time, I guess… I don't want to intrude." Santana said very quickly and shyly as she gently put her hand on Carole's hand.

"What? Why?" Carole whispered and gazed at Santana worriedly.

The young teenager looked down at her lap and sighed. She hated those awkward situations. She hated that every time her father ditched her she wished she could lean on someone else. But then, she had managed to live on her own ever since her mother left them and her father married his job; therefore she didn't need anyone's help, she could get along… Why did Carole have to be so nice?

"No… We need each other Sanny. Your Dad made me promise that as his closest neighbor, I'd take you under my wing if anything bad ever happened. And then he promised he'd do the same if something happened to Finn while I'm not there." Carole explained and held on to Santana's hand.

Santana looked down at her feet as memories of her early childhood filled her mind. She had never really known Finn, she'd never had a proper conversation with him, they were never friends; but she knew Carole from long ago. When her father and mother were still together and Carole was still with Finn's dad, the two mothers used to be friends. Carole came very often to Santana's home and she'd always call her by her nickname, Sanny.

"Look." Carole added and squeezed Santana's hand. "I can't let you sleep alone in that big old house. With everything that's happened today, you'll need comfort and protection – We all need that, sweetheart. You're sleeping at our place tonight and that's final."

"I just don't like being a drag." Santana said and smiled weakly.

"You're not. Don't ever say that. And I'm sure Finn and Sam will be glad to have you there." Carole whispered and smiled kindly at Santana.

But the smile, soon gave way to a frown as a tear came down Carole's cheek. She thought of Sam, whose head must have been knocked quite hard. She wondered if he'd suffer any memory loss. He had lived with her and Finn ever since school started in September and she had come to consider the kid a member of her family. That still didn't change the fact that, _he had a family_… a family that trusted her and who thought that he was safe staying at her place. She simply couldn't imagine telling his parents about what happened and felt a lot more responsible and guilty because of that...

"You know it's hard to be a single parent." Caroline blurted out as her other free hand came to Santana's cheek.

"Don't be hard on you father." She said and pushed back Santana's bangs in a gentle and motherly way.

Santana nodded and blinked back her tears as she tried to hug Carole rather clumsily. Santana could be intimate with a stranger and have sex without a care in the world but she had to admit that she had never been gifted in the affection department, she didn't know much about hugs and kisses and had no idea how to comfort friends in distress.

Fortunately, at the other end of the spectrum, Carole was a very affectionate mother. Santana felt her body relax in the embrace and her heartbeat seemed to calm down and go back to a normal rate.

"Mrs. Hudson?" A man in a white shirt called.

"Yes?" Carole said in a shaky voice as she let go of Santana and rose to her feet immediately.

"Sam Evans is all right. He needed a few stitches here and there and one of his wrists was broken. But that is all. Even though he lost consciousness because of the violent shock, he didn't suffer from memory loss. You can go home now but I would advise you to let him spend the rest of the night here."

"Oh. Thank you doctor Donovan. I think I'll just take him home. He hates hospitals; he won't feel very good…" Carole said and smiled widely out of relief.

"He is still in the main ward of the casualty department. You can join him there and then take him home."

"Oh, fine, we'll go now Sanny." Carole said and smiled at the young lady. "Thank you again, Dr. Donovan." She added and shook the doctor's hand.

Together, Carole and Santana walked in the large ward which contained several beds and curtains. They walked to the end of the room where Sam sat on a white bed with his head lowered down. Santana shuddered at the sight of him; he looked so depressed she could almost feel his distress. She frowned when they approached him and Carole hugged him very gently. Something bizarre had just happened to Santana who stood erect beside them, shock written all over her face.

"Hey. You all right?" Sam asked and got off the bed and came closer to her.

Santana nodded but she winced internally. What were those feelings, those waves that hit her like some sort of depressing energy? A terrible feeling of guilt took over her, almost as if she'd caused the death of Rachel Berry and she couldn't help but start sobbing.

What's happening to me? She thought as her body started shaking.

"Sanny." Carole said soothingly as she rubbed the young lady's back.

Sam who felt even worse than he did before tried to calm her too by stroking her arm but as soon as his fingers brushed her skin, the young lady jerked away from him like a mad girl.

Carole and Finn looked at her with very sad expressions on their faces.

"Just, don't touch me." Santana sobbed and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I'm sorry, I just need to get some rest. Can we go, please?" She asked and sniffed.

"Yes, we'll go now." Carole said and felt very confused.

"All right let's go." Sam said as he put an arm around Carole's shoulders.

He decided to put Santana's weird reaction down to post traumatic stress. She was the one that had witnessed everything and remained conscious after all. And maybe that made her lose it a little.

They walked out of the building and into Carole's car.

"We'll have to get back to the car park near the Blair forest. Finn's car is still there." Carole explained as she put the key in the ignition.

Santana caught Sam's glance in the rear view mirror and smiled weakly at him.

"What about the others? What about Finn, where is he?" Sam blurted out as Carole drove out of the medical center's parking lot.

"They're all fine. You're the only one that really got injured. The rest of us only had some minor cuts and scratches here and there. Nothing serious… They're all gone home. Finn is waiting for us back at Carole's place." Santana said as Sam turned around to look at her.

"All right. Sounds good." He whispered and looked relieved.

"So – sorry about Rachel… She was a good kid." Santana said hesitantly as her eyes scrutinized Sam.

"Yeah…" Sam replied simply and sighed.

Carole patted Sam's lap to comfort him and smiled weakly in his direction.

"I'm sure that she's resting in peace, right now." She said quietly and put her hand back on the steering wheel.

"Yeah, we'll just have to try and not talk about her around Finn… He really liked her." Sam said and shook his head.

They remained silent for the rest of the ride and soon enough they had reached the Blair forest.

"Sweetheart, I'll need you to drive one of these cars, since Sam can't." Carole said and turned around to look at Santana.

"Oh, yeah, no problem." The young lady agreed and smiled.

"Here are the keys." Carole said and handed the items to Santana.

"They're Finn's car keys and then the other two are our house keys. You can keep them for the rest of the week, because you'll be staying with us until your dad is back."

"All right. Thank you." Santana said and unbuckled her seatbelt.

She hopped down from Carole's little New Beattle and walked very quickly to Finn's car. She rushed inside it as the eerie place sent chills down her spine and put the key in the ignition as soon as her seatbelt was buckled.

The Dodge's engine roared, impressing Santana who wasn't lucky enough to even have a car. She smiled a little and was about to leave the place when Sam ran out of Carole's car and towards Finn's. He hopped in quickly and smiled at Santana.

"I remembered something and thought I should ride with you so we can talk." He said and looked her in the eye.

"O.K." Santana whispered and looked back at him quizzically.

She noticed Finn's mom was making a U-turn and decided to wait for her to drive ahead of them.

"You know, first I thought you were just under some sort of post-traumatic stress earlier. But then I started thinking about… when I was unconscious and…" Sam started hesitantly.

"And?" Santana asked and felt very curious.

"Something weird happened to me when I was unconscious." He said and looked down at his lap.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Thank you so much for the reviews, thank you elitemassacre6 and JaseShadowblade117. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.**_

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Sam shivered as the cool autumn wind blew against his face pushed the blond locks away from his forehead. Bringing his cold fingers up to his forehead, he sighed as he ran them through his messy hair and couldn't help but think he needed a new haircut.

Suddenly, the peculiar sound of a whispering female voice made him look up and around. He was standing in the middle of the quiet and empty road that led to the Blair forest. The moon hung high in the twilight sky and a light fog had begun to form one foot above the ground. Sam furrowed his eyebrows together and tried to remember how he even ended up there, in the middle of the ghastly road, but nothing came to his mind… It was as if he had gone through a black hole and couldn't even remember who he was.

Out of nowhere, a petite figure appeared before his eyes and walked in front of him. Sam raised his brows in surprise as he realized she was the one whimpering and whispering… He squinted at the short brunette and took a few steps back while her body stood against the dark purple sky.

"Rachel?" He whispered and gasped after he took a better look at the girls' clothes.

She was wearing a neat white dress which seemed to date back to the sixties, just like Rachel liked them and her white socks went up to her knees. Then, he noticed that her feet wore those brown schoolgirl shoes which always made Rachel look younger and somehow cuter than she was.

"This can't be…" Sam whispered and tried to calm his breathing.

Flashes of past events came flooding back, making him stagger weakly in her direction and then fall to the dirty tarred ground.

"You're dead… You're supposed to be dead." He choked out and tried to stop the shaking that took over his hands.

"What's happening? Who are you?" He yelled and looked up at the brown haired girl.

The girl walked forward, each step getting her closer to where Sam was but it seemed that she didn't really care about his presence… almost as if she couldn't even see him.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Sam yelled louder and stood up.

The girl stopped right in front of Sam and smirked, looking straight ahead… looking right through his chest and towards the other end of the road.

Sam turned around and noticed the flickering lights of car coming in the distance.

"What the hell…" He whispered to himself and turned back to Rachel.

He gasped and felt his breath catch in his throat as soon as his eyes focused on Rachel's face, which was barely an inch away from his. Her complexion was way too pale and soft, which made her look dolly and oddly deadly. She also had very dark rings under her eyes and her lips were of an unnatural and dark purple color. Her hair seemed to be a little bit different from the usual, as it fell down her shoulders in big waves that reached down to the bottom of her breasts. Sam cocked an eyebrow and shook his head as he remembered that earlier that day, Rachel had been wearing the exact same dress and the only difference was the hair; he remembered she had tied it into a neat ponytail during glee rehearsal in the morning and had kept it tied up all day. Then the moment his eyes fell upon hers was the moment he jumped away from her in fear and tripped on his own feet. Her eyes were anything but natural or human. They were plain dark… there was no iris in the middle and all he could see was black slits.

Maybe looks could kill; he thought to himself and turned around to run away from her. Whatever that _thing_ was, it could never be Rachel. It just looked like her, right? Sam thought to himself and ran faster.

Daring himself to look back, Sam slowed down a little when he heard the sound of a car coming right behind. Craning his neck just in time, he saw the Black Dodge swerve violently to the left, missing Rachel's evil look-alike by merely an inch, before crashing right into a massive beech tree's trunk. Then what he saw next struck him like thunder.

He saw Santana Lopez get out of the car hurriedly and run to the passenger seat. After opening the car door, Santana gripped some injured blond boy by the chest and dragged him out of the car…

Sam gulped loudly and regretted ever looking back as he realized with horror that the boy was a very precise copy of Sam himself.

Santana couldn't help but laugh at Sam's telling of his nightmare. He had made it seem like such a big deal, almost as if it meant something… which was stupid, because the last time she checked, dreams were just messed up thoughts and products of one's imagination and none of them ever made sense… except for the erotic ones, those usually meant she needed to get laid.

Sam sighed and looked out the window.

"I knew you'd think I'm crazy." He said in a low voice and played nervously with the sleeves of his hoodie.

Santana stole a glance in Sam's direction very quickly and tried to calm her laughing.

"Look trouty mouth." She said in very soft tone.

Sam looked up at her and understood that the nick name sounded different… For the first time in months, Santana was using the nickname in a loving manner.

"There's no denying it, we're still pretty shaken up over what's happened today and we're going to be questioned by the police again first thing tomorrow – Ha, as if we'd be able to sleep through the night knowing that – but yeah, so I was saying, we've been through a lot, so it's normal… I mean I understand why you feel that way and I've had my weird moments too… I do _not_ think you're crazy Sam… just please don't believe that."

"What if we do see Rachel standing in the middle of the road, Santana? What'd you do?" Sam challenged.

"I guess I'd have to hit the brakes." Santana said nonchalantly and shrugged.

"Would you try to avoid her and swerve to the right?" Sam asked.

Santana sighed and it took all she had in her not to roll her eyes or snort.

"Yes, I guess I would." She said blatantly and sighed.

"Well, I don't want you to. If you see anything down the road, I want you to drive right through it, I don't want to crash into a freaking tree." Sam said and glared at Santana.

"Oh God, you really need to get some rest." Santana huffed and sped up as Sam started to irritate her.

"Hey, slow down, this is a narrow road." Sam warned.

"I'm not driving over the speed limit so you can calm down." Santana said and chuckled dryly.

"Why are you getting so irritated?" Sam asked louder than he intended to.

"I'm not, you're the one tripping out over some stupid nightmare." Santana said and rolled her eyes.

Sam opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out of it.

"What? Cat got your thong?" Santana said in a cynical tone.

"Do you see what I see?" Sam asked and pointed a finger straight ahead of them.

Several yards away down the road, stood a girl in a white dress.

"Holy crap!" Santana yelled and slowed down.

"No, no, no, we can't repeat what's happened in my dream… You have to run her over!" Sam explained and shook his head.

"Why? Do you want me to kill an innocent girl?" Santana hissed and proceeded to turn the steering wheel.

"No, drive straight!" Sam scolded and gripped Santana's arm forcefully.

"What the heck are you doing? We can't run her over! I can't kill someone!" Santana whispered out of sheer panic and yelped as Sam's left hand prevented her from swerving to the right.

"She's dead already!" Sam cried out and didn't bother look at Santana because, despite of him, his eyes remained glued to the girl standing in the middle of the road.

"Well, what if it's not – what if…?" Santana started but couldn't finish her sentence.

Releasing the steering wheel and gasping for air, she screamed at the top of her lungs as the car hit the girl. The small body rolled over the windshield and flew to the side of the road like a fragile and harmless porcelain doll. As Santana hit the brakes, the car slipped on the tarred ground before it came to a brutal stop, leaving the two teenagers' ears itching with the loud screech of the tires.

Neither of them dared to say anything as a dead silence made the situation even more dreadful. Santana's snuffling worried Sam as he could swear he could hear their heartbeats racing.

"I'm sorry Santana; I just had such a strong feeling about this." Sam whispered and squeezed his fellow glee clubber's right shoulder. "I'm gonna head out and take a look at her." He added and inhaled deeply.

Santana shook her head and quickly unbuckled her seatbelt to hop out of the car. She wiped her teary eyes with the sleeve of her leather jacket and stomped towards the girl's body which lay on the side of the road. As she approached the lying corpse, Santana put a hand on her mouth, holding in a cry as soon as she noticed the damage the car had done to the slumped little body. Apparently the girl's neck was completely broken because her head was turned all the way around.

"Oh, creepy." Sam stated and cringed.

"We killed her." Santana said angrily and pushed Sam's chest violently, making him stumble backwards.

"Santana, listen to me, it's not – Holy shit, right behind you!" Sam hollered.

Santana turned around just in time to see the girl walking towards her with a ball of fire in her hand and couldn't help but yelp and run towards Sam.

"You should have listened to your friend, Santana." Rachel's evil look alike said and smirked.

Sam stepped before Santana protectively and held a death grip on her hand.

"This is no – not real, this ca - can't be real…" Santana stuttered and hugged Sam's back, hopping this was all a dream and she would soon wake up.

The evil girl chuckled and with the speed of light, she sent the ball of fire towards Santana's arm before she grabbed Sam's neck and started to choke him effortlessly. Santana screamed in pain as the ball of fire grazed her elbow and tried to take off her jacket as quickly as she could. She whimpered when the burnt fabric scratched some of her skin away from her elbow.

Fortunately though, the burn wasn't that bad and the pain was bearable. Coming out of her state of shock and positive that this was most definitely not a dream, she ran towards Sam.

"Get off of him!" She yelled and jumped on the girl's back.

Rachel's look alike let go of Sam's neck who collapsed to the ground and coughed frantically. Santana quickly jumped up and straddled the girl's waist after the two of them fell down. She grabbed the girl by the collar of her dress and raised a fist in the air, meaning to punch her in the face… but the girls' glare took Santana by surprise. Either the girls' eyes lacked some irises or the white around the brown oval had turned to black, Santana thought and felt a freezing cold shiver run down her spine. As she wondered at Rachel's inhuman complexion, Santana gave the evil being a chance to get even.

Next thing she knew was she was flying away from her opponent and towards Finn's black Dodge car. Sam heard glass shattering and Santana screaming in pain as she landed on the car's windshield.

After he finally managed to breathe normally, Sam rose to his feet and tackled the evil girl to the ground. He straddled her waist the way Santana did before and punched her several times in the face.

Strangely enough though, it seemed that nothing could get to the _thing_. No matter how many times he hurt her, her face remained clear of any injuries while her lips formed that strange smirk that made his hair stand up on his bare arms.

"Unbelievable!" Sam cried out.

"Poor ignorant little thing." The monster said and chuckled dryly. "Didn't your family tell you about your history… about the _curse_?" It added in a whisper.

Sam felt mesmerized by the sound of the eerie voice and wondered if maybe this was just some psychopath who had escaped from a nearby mental institute and who'd somehow hurt her eyes and consequently had them turn such a dark shade of black... But then, he wondered again, why did it look just like Rachel?

"What curse?" Santana asked and dared to limp a bit closer to Sam and Rachel's look-alike, holding her lower back and wincing.

"You two idiots really don't have a clue…" The evil Rachel hissed and in a swift movement kicked Sam in the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground a few feet away from her.

"I'm done going easy on you two…" the eerie voice of the ghostly girl said nonchalantly as she flicked her wrists.

Almost instantly, two little balls of fire appeared in each of her hands, floating merely an inch above her palm. Sam and Santana's eyes widened in fear and astonishment as the little balls of fire grew bigger and bigger by the second. Sam rose to his feet and stood straight in front of Santana, holding up his fists and clenching his jaw. He had no idea why and didn't understand how he felt at the moment but he knew that his instincts told him he had to stay there and fight… instead of just running away...

"Why are you going to kill us?" Santana's shaky voice asked.

Rachel's evil look-alike rolled her eyes in response to Santana's ignorance and taking a look at the fireballs, she decided it was time to send them their way… they were now more than a feet wide and it was too late for the two teenagers to flee.

Rising her hands up in the air very quickly, the evil girl sent the two balls towards Sam's chest with a wide smirk on her lips.

Sam closed his eyes thinking that that was it and that he would burn to death. Santana who still tugged at Sam's sleeve gathered up whatever courage she had left and held her head high, hoping her wish would be granted. The light swish of the ball being thrown their way made the two of them jump up and immediately open their eyes… just in time to see the balls of fire standing a few inches away from their faces. Sam furrowed his eyebrows together and stepped away while the ball kept floating still in front of him. Surprisingly enough, it hadn't hit his chest.

It took Santana a few seconds to realize that her wish had come true and with a very swift movement of her hand, she motioned for the ball to fly back towards their assailant. The evil girl ducked and groaned while the balls flew over her head and towards the empty end of the road. After sending a glare Santana's way, the petite brunette turned around, and ran to the woods.

She stopped dead one last time and said something intelligible as she craned her neck and sent the two teenagers a death stare. Then she vanished in the dark forest.

"What just happened?" Sam blurted out and held Santana's shoulders.

"Holy crap, Sam… you were right." Santana whispered and cringed at the thought of what she believed the two of them had just experienced.

"I know but I mean… what – I – what was that?" Sam stuttered and let his hands fall down Santana's arms.

Santana looked up at him with blurry eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Would you believe me if I told you I managed to stop these fireballs with my mind?" Santana asked and wondered if the question wasn't directed to herself really.

Sam opened his mouth to say something but some flickering lights in the distance caught his attention. Santana followed his gaze and saw Finn's mother in her little car driving up the narrow road and towards Sam and her.

"Oh my god! Are you O.K? What happened?" Carole cried out as soon as she stepped out of her little car.

"I thought you were right behind me and then after a while I realized you really weren't following and decided to drive back towards the woods and – Santana! Oh my god, you're lower back!" Carole exclaimed and started to panic.

Santana stopped holding her injured back and lifted up her hands to look at them. The bluish moonlight lighted her tan fingers and she gasped. Her hands were bloody and sticky.

Bringing one of her hands back to her hip, she brushed one finger against the very lower part of her back and cringed as her eyes closed. On the very right, near her hipbone, she could feel a deep and warm gap, from which blood was dripping… Strangely enough though, she realized, the deep cut didn't sting as much as it should have.

"We have to get back to the medical center." Sam said firmly and helped Santana limp to Carole's car.

As Sam gently buckled her seatbelt for her, Santana kept wondering again and again… _What would they say happened? And Who'd believe them anyways?_

Santana wasn't the kind of girl that cried easily and she didn't want to show how disoriented and scared she was but she had to admit… that she had no control whatsoever over her heavy breathing, that she couldn't stop the annoying little hiccups from erupting every two seconds or so and that as stupid as it seemed, she felt that the warm tears would keep dropping down her cheeks forever.

Surprisingly enough, as she looked down at her left hand to see what had just brushed against her bare wrist, Santana realized that Sam was sitting beside her on the backseat and that his warm and calloused fingers were stroking her hand. As she looked up at his face, Sam smiled weakly and let go of her fingers to gently brush some locks of her hair away from her eyes.

The unfathomable expression on Santana's face made Sam shiver and he realized then that their relationship would move to a whole new level. That from then on, the past events would keep them bonded forever. Santana wasn't just a fellow glee clubber anymore…

And even if he wasn't sure what she was to him exactly, he knew he already cared about her very much… perhaps even more than he ever should.


	4. Chapter 4

"What was it?" She asked.

"I don't really know how to describe it but… it was as if I could hear people think. For a moment there, I thought I was going crazy because I started hearing like, thousands of voices and I wasn't dreaming and nor was I completely unconscious…"

Santana nodded to let him know she was listening and thought of the strange feelings that took over her the day before, in the medical center.

"Now, it's all gone, I can't hear anything." Sam explained. "But that weird thing is still bugging me even though Dr. Donovan said that it was just some sort of hallucination."

"What did you hear exactly, do you remember? I mean right after you woke up from that crazy nightmare…" Santana said and kept her eyes on the road.

"It was like – like I was in Dr. Donovan's head. It was freaky. I even heard him say something about the nurses, but the thing is he said he'd never said any of those things."

Santana raised her eyebrows as what Sam had told her lead to pretty much _nothing_. The only thing worth noticing was Sam's talent in impersonating people… That made her giggle for a few seconds.

"I don't really get it. What's your point?" She asked and smiled nervously. "This is weird." She added and sighed.

"The thing is, I might have heard their thoughts. Who knows, maybe the explosion, the shock and the adrenaline created some sort of weird energy that allowed me to read minds for like, one minute? Or maybe I was in an _in-between_ third dimension and so not only could I see the future but I could also hear people's thoughts!" Sam said very quickly and scratched his head.

"Now, you sound crazy." Santana said and shook her head as a light chuckle escaped her lips. "You've probably watched science fiction movies way too many times."

"Indeed, maybe, maybe I've just watched too many supernatural movies." Sam said and smiled. "But you were there Santana, you saw Rachel's evil look alike! What more proof do you need? And seriously, what was it that night at the medical center? What did you _feel_?"

"Well, it felt like – like my feelings were not mine…" Santana said quietly and glanced very quickly towards Sam.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"I felt so guilty and depressed all of a sudden. It was so unusual! I thought I was tripping out. It was as if some wave of some sort of depressing energy had just rushed through me you know? And then when you touched me…"

"Did it intensify?" Sam choked out and snapped his head towards her.

"Yeah…" Santana whispered.

"You said you felt guilty?"

"Yes, it was crazy. It felt like I was responsible, almost as if I had killed Rachel. How strange is that? But then when you touched me – I – I thought I was being struck by thunder and then nothing… No weird feelings, everything went back to normal."

"My theory is you felt just as shitty as me." Sam whispered and scratched his injured eye brow.

"Wow, genius!" Santana said sarcastically.

"No, what I mean is… maybe you got super empathy or something." Sam explained.

"Look, I don't know about all this but I'm pretty sure that, that's just stress and pressure from what happened earlier. I mean we've witnessed instantaneous combustion of a classmate, so we can't expect to just feel all normal and happy now. We shouldn't fool ourselves either; otherwise people will think we're crazy." Santana said quietly as she parked Finn's car near the Hudsons' driveway.

"Yeah, all right." Sam said and unbuckled his seatbelt.

Santana did the same and was about to hop down from the car when Sam held her arm and made her jerk back towards him.

"Don't tell anyone about any of this or any of my stupid theories, let alone mention the hallucinations. You know Finn's mother is a psychiatrist; she'll probably go all shrink-shrink on us. If she asks you why you reacted the way you did, you just tell her you were tired, end of the story."

"All right, I will." Santana nodded and yanked his hand away from her arm.

Together they hopped down from the spacious Dodge and walked towards the Hudsons' front porch.

As Sam was closing the front door slowly, some peculiar noise made him stop dead.

_We don't have to kill them first_. An eerie voice said.

_But they are the key couple._ Another, deeper voice, said.

_You just wait and see. They'll soon be alone. Alone, alone, alone…_ The eerie voice sang and chuckled devilishly.

Sam snapped out of his trance and rushed out. He stepped forward hesitantly and looked from left to right. No one was around. The neighborhood was plain dark, empty and silent. A streetlamp flickered and then died out, but other than that little flutter, everything looked quite normal.

What's wrong with me? Sam wondered and rushed back inside.

"Mrs. Hudson?" He called.

"In the kitchen." Caroline yelled.

"Santana?" Sam called as he entered the kitchen hastily.

"Thank you for bringing back Finn's car from the garage. I'm a bit worried, he hasn't left his room ever since the incident… Hopefully, he'll be able to attend the funerals at the very least." Carole said in a whisper.

"We thought, we'd just make some soup. None of us had dinner so…" Santana said to Sam and smiled in a sad attempt to lighten up Caroline's mood.

"Mrs. Hudson, did you hear anything?" Sam said quickly, interrupting Santana as she spoke.

"Hear what?" She asked.

"Hum – someone talking – talking on the phone or something…" Sam stuttered and gulped loudly.

He couldn't just tell her the truth, now, could he? She'd probably think he's like one of her patients.

"We haven't heard anything." Santana said and couldn't help but cock an eyebrow as she eyed Sam.

"Oh, well, then I guess, it was probably just my imagination or maybe just some neighbors talking or something… Or maybe, it's just the fact that I'm really tired, you know." Sam said and laughed nervously.

"Oh, poor boy." Carole whispered and gave Sam a hug.

Santana who stood behind Finn's mother mouthed some words that clearly were for only _Sam_ to hear.

"What?" Sam mouthed in return as he wrapped his arms around Carole.

_I felt something weird when we entered Finn's house._ He heard Santana say very clearly and wondered if she'd just said that out loud or if maybe… maybe he'd heard her thoughts…

"You did?" He asked and broke out of the embrace.

"Did what?" Carole asked, confusion written all over her face.

"He was asking _me_… about some school stuff we talked about earlier." Santana said simply and glared at Sam.

_Speaks out loud the one who said we shouldn't tell anyone in the first place_. Sam heard Santana's voice say.

But the problem was… Her lips hadn't moved at all. She was just glaring at him.

His eyes widened as he realized that his crazy theories might have been true.

Meanwhile, Carole just stood there; feeling very confused for a moment but then decided to make the situation less awkward and asked the two teenagers if they wanted some soup.

"I'm not hungry." Sam stated flatly and glanced at Santana.

"Yeah, maybe I won't eat anything either after all. I'm exhausted; I think I'd rather just go to sleep." Santana said and nodded.

Caroline sighed and led Santana to the living-room.

There were two large couches in it. One of which, Sam slept in every night since Carole's little house didn't have a guest room.

"Are you sure you don't mind sleeping on the couch?" Carole asked Santana and tugged at her shirt as felt uneasy. "I mean, I could tell Finn to just let you stay in his room and he can sleep in the living-room with Sam, you know?"

"No, no, please, Caroline. I'll be fine, no problem." Santana said hastily. "As long as I have company." She added and nodded towards Sam.

Knowing that someone she knew would sleep in the same room made Santana feel safe. Carole was right, she couldn't spend the night alone in her big home, she'd be scared… especially after what she'd been through the night before.

"Santana." Sam whispered and put a hand on the young lady's shoulder as soon as Carole left them.

"Sa…" Santana started but Sam's hand prevented her mouth from saying anymore.

He put his index finger on her lips and Santana nodded.

"We need to whisper. Finn's room is right above our heads, and I don't want him to hear us… He can't fall asleep either... the guilt is killing him. He's the one that brought Rachel after all." Sam whispered and leaned against the back of the couch as he sat more comfortably on the leathered surface.

"The guilt…" Santana whispered as realization hit her. "That must have been it." She added and gasped.

"What? What do you mean?" Sam asked hurriedly.

"Sam… you were right… I can feel what other people feel, you know like super empathy and… _you_, you can see the future." Santana explained in a whisper and bit her lip.


	5. Chapter 5

Santana stood as far away as possible from all the mourning people who cried Rachel's death while the priest held forth beside the coffin.

She couldn't believe that Rachel had died the way she did. _Hell_, she couldn't believe she died even! She had just turned eighteen and she was by far the only midget who managed to be nice to everyone, including mean and cynical people like Santana… That is, as long as they didn't try to steal her spotlight.

Santana smiled when she realized that she had complete control over her empathy. She gazed at a few jocks that stood still behind Rachel's family and noticed Sam. She decided to focus on him. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts for him to hear her words.

_I'm leaving. I can't stand that place._ She thought and looked up at the sky.

Then, she glanced back towards Sam and as she expected, he was walking towards her.

"Hey!" He cried out as she turned around and away from the mourning party.

"I heard you. Of all the thoughts I could hear, yours was the loudest." He explained and smiled weakly.

"Well, I'm glad it's working…" Santana said nonchalantly and shrugged.

"I've tried to control my ability all weekend and I think I get it now. I managed to block everything out yesterday. My mind went silent, completely silent…" Sam said very quickly and scratched his head.

"Yeah… Did you talk to the rest of the group?" Santana asked and squinted because the bright afternoon sun caused her eyes to twinkle.

"No, not really. I've tried to talk to Finn but he blew me off. He's kind of depressed because rumor has it that Puck and Rachel were having sex behind his back." Sam said and gazed back at the assembly.

He raised his finger and pointed it to a figure standing away from everyone and leaning against a large tomb. It was Noah Puckerman.

Even though Santana couldn't make out his features, she recognized his black leather jacket and his ugly leather boots. He was quite the bad boy. The boy that always got to screw things up without a care in the world.

Santana put her hand over her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun as she watched Noah attentively. She noticed that he dangled his crash helmet with the tip of his fingers in quite a peculiar way.

"What is it?" Sam asked when he noticed the change in Santana's features.

Santana narrowed her eyes at Noah Puckerman and realized that his crash helmet might have been floating in thin air because holding such a big object with the tip of one's fingers seemed rather irrational.

"Who would have thought he'd even come…" Santana whispered.

"Yeah. I knew he was here because I heard his thoughts." Sam said and shrugged.

"I suggest we gather everyone and meet somewhere so we can talk about what happened." Santana said and turned on her heels.

She really couldn't stand that place and Puckerman's presence made their little town's graveyard look even uglier… Heck, Puckerman, the man-whore could and would always make anything look ugly.

"Wait up…" Sam huffed and reached out for Santana's hand.

"What?" She asked and cringed.

Sam sighed and retrieved his hand very hastily. _Had she felt anything when he touched her?_ He wondered.

"I know your dad hasn't come back yet. Wanna sleep over?" He asked and smiled weakly.

"Nah… thanks though." Santana said and did her best to smile in return.

"I need to go now." She added and strutted to her father's car.

She would have gladly slept over but she couldn't. Unlike Sam, she hadn't gotten a grip of her abilities just yet. She never chose to feel other peoples' emotions, and as a consequence she couldn't stand any closer to Carole or Finn, or anyone else for that matter. They made her feel depressed.

She drove out of the graveyard and towards the police station. Eversince Rachel's death, nothing had been normal. It had been a week now and there really was no denying it. Sam and Santana had, indeed, some sort of paranormal abilities. And she had better get a grip on those 'super powers' as Sam liked to call them.

Apparently, Sam could read minds, but he and Santana had discovered two days before, that one could protect one's thoughts from being read… or at least Santana could. She had managed to do that unintentionally one night at Finn's. She couldn't stand the fact that Sam or Finn or even Carole could know of anything and everything that went through her mind. She had no idea how she had managed to stop him from reading her mind but she knew it had something to do with her instincts.

Shaking her head and willing herself to focus on more rational matters, she stormed in the white building that was the police station and put her hands on the reception counter very loudly. The cops had taken her pictures away from her as evidence in the case of Rachel's death which – rumor had it – was to be considered a murder case.

"Hello?" The blond haired secretary said and crooked her brows. "You again…" She added as soon as her eyes met Santana's.

"Yeah, yeah… I'd like to see my pictures… The ones I took that Monday afternoon when…"

"They're not your property, they never have been." The secretary cut Santana off.

"I just want to see them!"

"You don't have the right to. Now you had better leave before I call security." The blond head warned and poked Santana's shoulder with her index finger.

"Ugh… can I, at least, be given some information with respect to…"

"SECURITY!" The fortyish secretary cried out and snapped her fingers repeatedly.

"Slut!" Santana swore under her breath and ran out.

On her way out, she bumped into someone's shoulder, someone dressed in a black leather jacket. She cussed as she recognized who the person was.

"Hello, there!" Puck snickered. "Who would have thought slutty Santana would be so..." Puck added but Santana interrupted him.

"Shut up, man-whore. I didn't mean to run into you." Santana huffed and pushed past him.

"Where are you going?" he asked and followed her to her car.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered the meeting that she had suggested that the group of teenagers should agree to a few days before when she talked to Sam.

"What are you doing tonight?" Santana blurted out and ignored his question.

"Are you inviting me on a date?" Noah asked and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"NO! ABSOLUTLY NOT! You idiot, I just need to gather the whole group to talk about the explosion and its consequences. Some weird things have been happening lately." Santana explained quickly and looked up at him.

She had never realized how tall he was until then, probably because they didn't even talked to each other anymore, they didn't even say "hello" to one another actually; yet they attended the same classes… and had had sex. In those moments, Santana hated herself... simply because she hated to be reminded of how slutty she used to be.

"All right… I'll think about it and let you know…" Puck said and looked elsewhere dreamily.

Santana rolled her eyes and hopped in her father's car. She put the key in the ignition and was about to leave when Noah knocked on the windshield.

"What?" She asked with irritation dripping from her voice.

Then she quickly pushed the button to roll the window down and Noah bent slightly to put his hands on her car door.

"You're right, weird things have been happening…" He said simply and stared at her.

"And?" Santana asked impatiently.

"And… I can do things…" He whispered hesitantly.

Santana's eyes widened and she inhaled deeply, waiting for him to tell her more.

"Here, I need your phone number. Give me your phone." He said as he pulled out his cellphone from his jeans' pocket.

"Sure thing." Santana said and obliged.

"See you tonight…" He said and smirked after typing his phone number in her contacts list.

"Yeah…" Santana whispered and smiled a little.

"Will it be just you and me?" Noah asked and wriggled his eyebrows.

Santana rolled her eyes and ignored him. She drove backwards, and left the parking lot, also leaving Noah standing near the car park, looking dumbfounded. _What an idiot._ Santana thought. Hopefully, Noah's ego would diminish when he realizes she would no longer give in to him.

She parked her dad's car in front of her house and hopped out of it nonchalantly. She searched through her bag for her house keys and decided to finally just empty it on the floor near the front porch.

_I really need to get another, more practical bag_, she thought. She spotted her keys on the floor, near some pens and hair clips. She grabbed them and decided that she would use her abilities to shove the rest of the items in her handbag.

Quickly, she looked around to make sure that no one was watching her and then… she stared intently at the ground where her items where scattered across the white concrete, facing the front porch. In swift movements, every item floated back into her bag and she smiled in content.

She unlocked the front door open and was about to rush in when a cold hand grabbed her shoulder.

"HAAAAAAA!" She screamed and jumped on her feet.

"GOD, Santana! You're such a fearful one… And that's a really nice trick you got there, huh? Might try it again? I mean it was pretty cool to watch you…" Mercedes Jones said joyfully.

Santana looked blankly at Mercedes and then at Sam standing behind her as she tried to calm her breathing. Mercedes was her neighbor and an acquaintance of some sort. They also attended many classes together… Yet they never really spoke to each other.

"Sorry…" Sam apologized and smiled at Santana.

Mercedes was still speaking rapidly and excitedly but neither Sam nor Santana could make out her words.

"Wait – wait !" Santana cried out and raised a hand. "Where did you guys come from? I didn't see you there! Jeez, did you just teleport yourself out?" Santana asked and let out a nervous laugh.

Sam and Mercedes exchanged a knowing smile.

"You can teleport yourself wherever you want to?" Santana asked dumbly and gasped.

"I wish, but no, that's not it… It's just that, I can be invisible and anything I touch becomes invisible if I want it to." Mercedes said nonchalantly and shrugged.

"It's hell of a super power, I'm jealous." Sam said.

Santana didn't even smile at Sam's humor. Her eyebrows furrowed and her heartbeat started racing.

"Come in." She cried out as she rushed inside.

Somehow, she had felt something odd when Sam started joking about their abilities… It was as if someone was… watching them… meaning to harm them.

Mercedes and Sam exchanged confused looks before stepping in.


End file.
